1. Oak Cliff Pump Station at Oak Farms Dairy c.1913

NOTE: OOCCL has released this entry a week early so the Pump Station will have ah opportunity to be a part of development plans for the site.

In 1927 Southland Ice, on the corner of 12th and Edgefield, started selling milk, bread, cigarettes and canned goods off their dock during the winter when demand for ice was low. That is where 7-11 was born. Jodie Thompson grew the business steadily. In 1928 they began selling gasoline, in 1933 they added beer, in 1935 milk was introduced in a paper carton and in 1936 Thompson founded Oak Farms Dairy to supply his stores with milk. It was located at 1411 Lancaster Rd.

In the sprawling Oak Farms factory complex overlooking downtown Dallas rests a little known historical treasure – the Oak Cliff Pumping Station. Built in 1913 for $20,000, the pump house was one of a collection of pump houses that supplied residents of Dallas with drinking water.

Interior from the Dallas Morning News

The Pump House replaced the older one to the left in the photograph above. Three artesian wells were on site and the new pump house would be able to simultaneously pump from all three while the older one could only pump from one at a time. The Oak Cliff pump house was one of a handful built after the 1895 Record Crossing Station was abandoned. Oak Farms moved next door in 1936 and repurposed the structure after it was closed by the city in 1944.

Record Crossing Pump Station ruins (1895) and spillway (1865) on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, corner of Record Crossing and Riverside.

Turtle Creek 1909

White Rock Lake 1911

Cadiz Street 1915

Bachman Lake 1910

Oak Farms will cease operations in June of 2014 and Cienda Partners has purchased the property and intends to develop the site. This would be the first of the early 1900's pump stations lost if demolished. The historic structure could be repurposed again and incorporated into a new development as either lofts or common space for tenants in adjacent buildings. There are many possibilities. All of her sister structures still stand and two are Dallas Landmarks. No doubt this one could be as well also qualifying to be on the National Register of Historic Places and the tax credits that come with that. The Turtle Creek Pump Station is now the Sammons Center for the Arts.

Sanborn map laid over a Google image shows where the pump house is located on the property.